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Sunday, January 29, 2006

At the end of our driveway is a huge old oak tree. Who knows how old it is, but from all the scars and broken snags on it, you can tell it's been through a lot of winters, wind storms, and lightning strikes.

Yesterday afternoon I thought the old girl looked mighty pretty in the warm golden sunlight of a late afternoon. It'll be a sad day when she finally falls.

My father-in-law used to say that a tree spends 100 years growing, 100 years living, and 100 years dying. On our walk yesterday we found a recently fallen giant, brought down by the high winds we had here on Friday night. I won't still be here when it's all rotted back to the earth.

About Bill

Bill of the Birds

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.